Chapter 25 - His Master's Voice (Pt.1)

"Students late for first period will be responsible for cleaning the bubble gum that has been stuck under the desks for months. Go! Chop Chop!" The princepal announced over the loud speaker. The drone of children having half asleep coverstations filled the air after he had hung up.
"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Yolei said with a smirk as she, Tara, Cody, and Ashi walked through the school gates. The two younger children giggled.
"No kidding." Cody laughed. Tara yawned.

Meanwhile, Ashley and Kari were walking to school from another direction. Kari had remained silent the entire way there; Ashley hadn't noticed that she hadn't even come for Tai and her's daily ritual of waking Azukia up in the strangest way possible.
"Hey...Kari, are you okay?" Ashley asked.
"Y-yeah. I just...had a bad dream last night. That's all." Kari answered, but immediatly went back to staring at her shoes with a horrified expression on her face. Ashley sighed.
It was at about that point that Emi and TK showed up behind them. TK grinned and reached for Kari's shoulder. She gasped and wheeled about.
"Stay away!"
"Huh?" TK asked. Emi and Ashley were staring at the pair with confused expressions.
"Oh...TK..." Kari said, blushing. At that point, Davis jogged up and joined the group.
"C'mon you guys, you heard the princepal. You don't want to scrape gum, do you?" Kari gasped again and the group ran off after Davis.
"Last one in has to eat the old gum!" Davis called. Gatomon, Patamon, and Puppymon were perched in a tree in the school yard. They watched the kids race into the class.
"Wow, school. It looks like fun." Patamon commented.
"I don't think Kari's having fun in school or out." Gatomon said, "She hasn't been sleeping well 'cause of her bad dreams."
"Ashley slept like a log last night." Puppymon offered.
"Bad dreams?" Patamon asked, looking at Gatomon.
"Yeah, she won't tell me what they're about, but she wakes up every morning dripping in a cold sweat."
"Has she said anything?" Patamon asked. Puppymon grumbled. She didn't like trees very much. Trees were for cats, not so much for dogs.
"No...maybe I'm imagining things." Gatomon said with a sigh, "Let's go raid the cafeteria."
"Anything to get out of this tree!" Puppymon barked and clambered down, Gatomon following quickly after.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Patamon shouted.

"Okay, Class. As you can see, x=y and y=x." The teacher droned, "Lickety-split, cubed cue, isn't that exciting?"
"I have absolutely no clue what he's saying." Tara said, head on her desk. She'd stopped paying attention a while back.
"I don't know what's more boring: watching paint dry or math." said TK. He threw a glance in Kari's direction, "I wonder why Kari's been so down lately."
'What's wrong with me?' Kari wondered, 'Is it just because I haven't got much sleep? I can't get these dreams out of my head.' Suddenly fog began to fill the classroom.
'What's happening? I know my math scores have been a little foggy lately but this is ridiculous.' And then the classroom was gone. Kari was all alone in the middle of nowhere. Sitting down, she was knee deep in water. "What is this? Did the boys flood the bathroom again? Where am I? TK? Gatomon? Azukia? TAAAIIIIIIIII!"

"What the-?!" Emi said, her pencil falling out of her hand and clattering to her desk. TK followed her line of vision and gasped. Kari seemed to be fizzing in and out of existence.

"Somebody help me!" Kari shouted.

"Kari!" TK stood up. All the class swiveled their heads around to see what he was doing. Davis looked at Kari who was staring up at TK.
"What's goin' on?" Davis asked. Kari stared at TK for a few more seconds and then groaned, holding her hand up to her head. She slid to the side, nearly out of her desk.
"Kari!" Ashley, who was sitting behind her, gasped. She got of her chair and caught Kari before she hit the ground.
"Are you okay Kari? Do you want to go to the nurse?" The teacher asked.
"Yes sir." Kari said weakly. She nodded to Ashley and got up, stumbling to the door.
"Something's de-FIN-etly wrong wit her." Tara said, staring after her.

"Oh, it's no big deal..." Kari mumbled as she walked down the empty hallway, "Blame it on the algebra. It was so boring you dreamed you were in the ocean. That's all. I'm not going crazy." She turned her head. A few feet away was a younger version of herself in front of a younger version of her brother and Azukia.
"I'm sorry I let you down Tai," said little Kari. Kari looked ahead and scowled.
"Get a hold of yourself, Kari." A ripple shot across the hallway, "Hello? Is anybody there? Davis, is that you? You win Davis, I'm scared now!"
Davis didn't answer. Kari's breathing quickened as drops of water began to fall from the ceiling and pool on the ground. She turned slowly around. Something red was lurking behind the stairs at the end of the hallway. Kari screamed.

"May I have your attention?" The princepal again came over the PA system, "Whoever put jelly donuts in the swimming pool please report to the office?"
"Kari?!" TK shot out of the classroom like a rocket. Emi was close behind him. Kari had not come back from the nurse's office but she had not come to get her stuff back either.
"Wha?" Davis and Tara stared out the door.

"Excuse me ma'm, may we see Kari?" TK asked after he and Emi had got to the Nurse's office.
"I'm sorry, but Kari isn't here, sweetie. How about a lolipop?" The nurse asked. TK gaped and looked at the empty bed near the window, "Do you want to lay-down, TK?" TK didn't answer. He and Emi rushed from the room.
"Maybe she's in the girl's bathroom!" TK panted, "I'll check there!"
"No, I'll check there." Emi said calmly, "You, last time I checked, are not a girl."
As it turned out, Kari was not in the girls' bathroom. Nor was she in the library. Kari also wasn't in the stairwell, or the computer lab. TK paused to the check the Digital World gate.
"It's like she just disappeared." TK said, hanging his head before running out the door again. Even Emi was beginning to worry at that point. They ran in silence, but Emi could guess the wild thoughts that were whirring between her brother's ears. TK skidded to a halt.
"Wha?" Emi kept going forward for a few seconds before turning around to stare out the window. Kari was sitting on the steps below. Without another word, the twins shot off again.

"Boy do I have a massive head ache..." Kari groaned. A group of kids playing soccor raced past her and she took no notice.
"Kari, we've been looking all over for you." TK said as he and Emi walked up, "Are you okay?"
"It was weird." Kari answered in a sullen voice. Emi took a seat next to her friend and threw one arm over Kari's shoulders, "I was at the beach."
"...You ditched school?" TK asked.
"No, silly. The beach in another dimension. You guys saw me in class; I was just sitting there and then I was in the ocean."
"Now you've totally lost me." TK said.
"Then on my way to the nurses office, it happened again."
"And that's why you never showed up." Emi stated. Kari nodded and continued:
"I was surrounded by water and...then I saw one them."
"What do you mean 'one of them'?" TK asked.
"Digimon. They keep trying to take me to their world. I don't know if I can resist anymore." Kari answered. Emi frowned, confused.
"You've got to!" TK snapped, "Where are they Kari? We'll fight them!"
"I can't, TK. I'm just not strong like Tai or Azukia."
"You're going to quit? Give up? Just like that?! Look Kari, I care too much about you to let anyone take you without a fight." TK said. Despite the serious situation, Emi had to supress a grin at her brother's quasi-confession. Kari looked up at TK, eyes wide.
"Uh...um..." TK stammered, seeming to realize what he had just said, "Uh...sorry. I'd...better...go now. See you later?" Emi sighed and got up.
"Bye Kari. Get better soon, kay?"

"Will Barry Robertson please report to the office? Your locker is missing." This was the latest announcement being read as Kari left the school. She paused at a cross-walk, even more out of it then before. The mist began to close in again. She could see the beach from where she was standing.
"The beach." She started to talk across the street. Gatomon, who was sleeping a tree overlooking the street, opened her eyes sleepily. She smacked her lips and then gasped as she became wide awake when she saw Kari down below.
"Kari!" She leapt out of her tree and then off the hedge and landed on the ground. Gatomon's blue eyes widened as Kari began to fizz in and out existance, "Kari? Kari! Are you okay? What's happening to you?"
Kari didn't hear. Gatomon ran for the street and then leapt out of the way as a truck nearly hit her. When it was gone so was Kari. All that was left was her red backpack.

"By increasing the system memory I'm expanding the D-terminal's copacity." Yolei explained. She, Cody, Davis, Tara, Ashley, and Azukia were already in the room.
"Boy do you know how to party." Davis said. The door slid open and Emi and TK walked into the room.
"I thought it would be better if we could communicate in the Digital World not just through e-mail but in real time, too." Yolei finished.
"Isn't e-mail technically real-time?" Tara asked, bored out of her skull.
"Great idea!" Cody complimented.
"It could be helpful for keeping tabs on the Digimon Emperor." Ashi told Tara. TK walked dejectedly past the group, no one taking any notice. Emi joined them.
"Big deal. I'd rather go outside and play some soccor." Davis complained.
"No kidding." Demiveemon said, leaping onto Davis' shoulder, "This place smells like its full of dirty old sweatsocks anyway."
"TK, what's the matter?" Patamon asked, finally realizing that TK had wandered into the room, "You look upset."
"It's nothing really..." TK mumbled. Emi frowned, watching her brother out of the corner of her eye. The door slid open and a panting Gatomon was standing in the doorway.
"Kari's disappeared."

Kari opened her eyes. The landscape around was full of grey rocks leading to a grey sea. Grey mist hung about the air, obscuring everything but a lighthouse. It's beam was black instead of white.
"It's happened again. I'm at the beach." Kari mused, "But something isn't right. What kind of light house shines dark light?"

"What?!" Azukia shouted, leaping to her feet. Her sudden movement caused Tara to give a massive start and crash to the ground.
"She can't have gone too far," Davis reasoned, "She has to be in the Digital World."
"She needs us! She might be in a lot of danger!" Ashley fretted, hands over her mouth. Azukia looked even more paniced.
"Calm down, both of you." Tara said, placing one hand on each girls' shoulder.
"But she doesn't have Gatomon!" Azukia protested, "She could get hurt! Tai would never forgive me." Ashi walked up and placed one small hand on Azukia's knee.
"Take a deep breath Azukia. Freaking out isn't going to help her." Azukia looked down at Ashi and then took several deep breaths and closed her eyes. She opened them again.
"Okay. Let's save her."
"It's not that simple." TK said quietly, "She might not be in the Digi World."
"Did you hit your head?" Davis demanded.
"He's right." Emi said, stepping in between TK and Davis.
"So you hit your head, too, then?!" Davis snapped.
"Uh..." Cody began.
"It's no use," Yolei said, shaking her head, "The system can't even pen-point Kari's location."
"We can't afford to waste anymore time." Davis said descisvely, "Let's just go and find her ourselves."
"Davis, I don't think-" Cody tried.
"Now is the time for action." Davis said, interupting the younger boy, "Yolei, open the gate."
"WOULD YOU ALL STOP TALKING?!" Cody shouted. The room instantly fell silent as every head in the room turned to look at him. Cody gulped, "It makes no sense to open the gate until we can target Kari's exact location. The Digital World is gigantic. If we go in there without any direction, we're bound to get lost, too."
"She's not in the Digital World." TK said, emphasising each letter, "The beach. That's were she is." He sprinted for the door.
"TK!" Patamon cried, leaping into the air and racing off after TK.
"Aren't you going after him?" Tara asked Emi. She shook her head.
"Nah. Let him play the hero."
"Wait up!" Azukia shouted. She paused only to snatch Nyamon up and then ran out the door after TK.

Azukia and TK made it to the beach. They paused at the top of the stairs leading to the sand, hair waving in the breeze. There was no one there.
"Kari!" They shouted together, cupping their hands over their mouths.

Black walls. Grey sky. Tall trees looming on the other side of the walls. It was raining. Kari stared forward.
"This place is creepy. At least the beach is nice...and deserted." She said aloud, "It must not be the tourist season."

Azukia and TK were searching along the shore-line now.
"Guys, wait up!" Gatomon and Patamon were trying their best to catch up. Nyamon turned from her perch on Azukia shoulder and jumped off to meet them. TK paused.
"This is all my fault!" He moaned. All three digimon stopped dead in their tracks and gasped, "I knew there was something wrong with her. She needed my help and I let her down. If I didn't leave her by herself, this never would have happened." Azukia fell to her knees, tears falling from her eyes.
"This morning she came over and wasn't herself. She hasn't been for awhile now and...and I ignored that! I should have been more there for her!"
"Azukia, don't cry." Nyamon said moreosly, bouncing over to where Azukia was curled up in the sand.
"Let's go to the Digital World and search for her." Patamon suggested.
"She's not there!" TK snapped, taking out his green digivice, "I saw her disappearing in class. She's in a different dimension! And this stupid piece of junk is useless."

"There's not even a hot dog stand on this beach." Kari complained, walking across the black sand. She stopped and stared at the cliff wall a while off. There was a large round hole in one part of it, "A door? Maybe that's the way out of this stupid world.

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